Today, when users are signed in to Google, Chrome sends their searches from the Chrome address bar (“omnibox”) over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Starting with Chrome 25 (currently in the Dev and Beta channels), we’re doing the same thing for Chrome omnibox searches performed by users who aren’t signed in to Google.

Serving content over SSL provides users with a more secure and private search experience. It helps ensure that malicious actors who might intercept people’s internet traffic can’t see their queries. Many major sites have begun serving content over SSL by default, such as Gmail in early 2010, Twitter in February 2012, and Facebook in November 2012. Search has also been moving toward encryption. Google introduced Encrypted Search in May 2010 and made encryption the default for signed-in users starting in October 2011. Firefox announced a switch to SSL for all Google searches in July 2012, and Safari did the same thing in September 2012. Chrome is continuing this trend.

Users shouldn’t notice any changes. If anything, their searches will be slightly faster due to Chrome’s implementation of the SPDY protocol, but there should be no other user-visible effect.